


Unknown Tortures

by haunt_the_stars



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Batfamily Feels, Episode Tag, Episode: s03e21 Unknown Factors, Gen, Hurt Dick Grayson, UPDATE: it IS ep 22 compliant! pretty much, Whump, definitely not ep 22 compliant, hasnt come out yet but i can tell you it won’t be compliant, its just whump guys, light dickbabs, trust me i was shocked
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-20 09:01:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20225245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haunt_the_stars/pseuds/haunt_the_stars
Summary: Coda to S03E21 “Unknown Factors.” Dick is hurting. Barbara’s waiting. It’s been like this all night.





	Unknown Tortures

**Author's Note:**

> heyyy I know I haven’t posted anything in ages but I was feeling a mighty need for Dick whump after episode 21. There is no point to this. It’s just some bite-sized whump.

“How long?”

Barbara pushes herself up from her slumped position against the bed at the voice in her ear.

“Almost six hours, now,” she whispers.

Batman hums, stress evident in his voice. “No change?”

“No. It cycles. He’ll be quiet for fifteen or twenty minutes. Just cries a little. And then-“

She didn’t keep quiet enough. Or Dick’s just overdue for another episode. He shifts, body writhing and head tossing to the side, one pitiful whimper wrenching from his throat before he’s screaming again. The sound goes straight to Barbara’s aching temples and she resists the urge to groan. They still don’t know if Dick can hear anything.

“And then he’s like that.”

“Does he respond to speech?”

Barbara covers one ear to block out Dick’s agony, unable to bring herself to leave the room. “No.”

“Touch?”

“Sometimes.” She tries to closes her hand over Dick’s, and is slapped away with a shriek. One of those times, then. “It seems to help sometimes. When he’s calmer he’ll squeeze my hand back. But sometimes he gets upset. Well. More than he already is.”

“And his vitals?”

“Heart rate and blood pressure elevated but nothing dangerous. There’s...there’s nothing physical we can pinpoint,” Barbara says.

“Hm.”

The line is quiet for a moment, and she knows Bruce is listening to Dick. The fact that she can actually hear an intake of breath means he’s completely freaking out.

“ETA ten minutes.”

The line goes dead.

“He never says goodbye, does he?” she muses to Dick. He’s turned away from her right now, trembling and groaning, and then he screams like somebody’s ripping his _insides_ out.

“Shh-h-h...” Frustrated tears well up in Barbara’s eyes as she clenches her fists uselessly at her sides. “Shh, honey, you’re okay, you’re safe.”

The scream eventually fades into a broken sob, and then he’s back to curling up and crying. This part is easier on her ears. Just not on her heart.

Barbara grabs the cloth Dr. Jace had brought in and soaks it in the bowl of cool water to wipe Dick’s face and neck with. The screaming episodes leave him covered in a sheen of sweat, muscles tensed. He doesn’t respond to her touch this time, and she takes the opportunity to try and coax his rigid shoulders and arms into relaxing. She uncurls each finger, pulling his nails away from the crescent-shaped wounds they’re digging in his palms. Dick just keeps sobbing, trying to fold in impossibly closer on himself.

“I know, sweetheart, I know it hurts...” She doesn’t know. They have no idea where he’s hurting or why. But she knows he hasn’t ever sounded like this around her. Not even Scarecrow can drag those kinds of noises out of him.

Batman and Robin burst through the door in eight minutes. Dick is crying quietly into the pillow, but at the sound of the doors banging against the wall, he jolts and groans through gritted teeth.

“Dick,” Tim breathes.

Bruce comes directly to the bedside without hesitation, pulling one glove off and pressing his hand to Dick’s forehead.

Dick doesn’t react to the hand brushing his hair back, but the movement makes Bruce’s cape drape over Dick’s arm. Dick’s breath hitches, fingers scrambling to grab at the cape and pull it into his clenched fists.

Barbara watches, brow furrowed. “That’s new.”

Bruce looks at Dick’s hands and immediately reaches to unclasp the cape from his shoulders, letting the heavy fabric drop to Dick’s bed. Dick whimpers, and holds the cape up to his cheek like a child with a blanket.

Not for the first time, Barbara wonders if it’s physical pain that’s making Dick scream like that, or something more cruel.

“Do you think he’s...seeing something?” Tim is on the same page.

“I don’t know. If Miss Martian were here she could look in his mind, but...”

“But for now, we can only wait,” Bruce finishes, sitting on the edge of Dick’s bed and reaching to comb through his sweat-drenched hair.

Tim nods, hopping up to sit cross-legged at the foot of the bed. Facing the door. Guarding.

“Go get some rest, Barbara,” Bruce says, voice walking a fine line between a suggestion and an order. Barbara doesn’t take orders from Bruce anymore.

“I’m not leaving.”

“I’m sure the Outsiders have extra beds here. I will alert you as soon as there’s any change.”

“Bruce-“

“We don’t know how long this will last. One of us needs to be awake and alert enough to take care of him when he wakes up.”

It’s logical, and she can’t argue with logic. She sighs, and looks to Tim.

“We’ll take care of him, Babs,” he assures with a weak smile.

“Alright.” She turns to leave, and gets almost all the way to the door before Dick starts writhing again, his moaning getting louder and higher in pitch. Looking over her shoulder, she’s met with the sight of Bruce taking his cowl off and prying the cape out of Dick’s hands to tuck it around him like a blanket. Faintly, she can hear him murmuring against Dick’s ear.

_“Easy, kiddo...you can relax...you’ve been so brave...you’re going to be just fine...I’m right here.”_

Barbara wipes her eyes, then turns back and leaves the room, closing the door behind her.


End file.
